Paraglider pilot saved after getting trapped in a tree

Monday, September 9th 2019, 12:29 AM EDT by Nicholas Phillips

URBANA, NY (WENY) -- A man is home after getting rescued from being trapped in a tree after a paraglider crash.

The Hammondsport Fire Department relieved a call that came in around 3:30pm Saturday for a man who crashed while in a paraglider around 75 feet up in a tree in Urbana. The crash happened just off the road in the woods near County Route 113. First responders used ropes to rescue the pilot, and managed to get him down roughly 2 hours later. Firefighters say the paraglider pilot walked away without injury.

“He's actually from Portugal, but he lives in Canada. And he happened.. you know he unfortunately ran out of air. And his friends that were with him from the other hang gliders came up and between them, between us and them, some of them are arborists, they climb trees all the time so working together went very easy.” said Hammondsport Fire Chief, Bill Fries.

Fries said the area is popular with paragliders. The pilot of the paraglider was able to call 911 himself and officials used GPS data to find him.